


Too Busy For Your Best Friend?

by fishstic



Category: Frozen (2013)
Genre: Commissioned Work, Ever - Freeform, F/F, Gen, Happy Ending, I don't know how else to make it clear that I do not write Elsa and Anna as related, I forgot to put it in the first chapter, I'm tired and shouldn't be adding these tags but here we are, Not Incest, Unrelated Anna/Elsa (Disney), it's in the second chapter though, that they were just really close friends, until it became/becomes more, who thought of each other like sisters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-03
Updated: 2017-02-24
Packaged: 2018-09-21 18:53:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9562172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fishstic/pseuds/fishstic
Summary: Six months after Elsa cut off contact with her best friend Anna, they bump into each other in the most unlikely of places -- Elsa's college 3 states away from where Anna lives.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This work was commissioned from me by a friend of a friend on Tumblr. 
> 
> If you would like to commission your own fic, [here's how that works now.](http://subtletyislost.tumblr.com/commissions)

Elsa sighed and tapped her fingers against her coffee cup impatiently. She’d been waiting for what seemed like hours for her classmate to show up so they could go over the notes for the quiz like they’d planned, but they were late. Very late. She couldn’t just study this alone. She’d missed two days because she was sick, so some of the notes were missing. She  _ needed _ that classmate, as much as she hated to admit it. She looked at the time on her phone and gritted her teeth. Her next class was in half an hour and if she didn’t leave now she wouldn’t make it on time. Looked like studying would have to wait.

She gathered up her things and sighed. On the way out of the coffee shop, she dropped her cup in the trash. She had no use for an empty cardboard cup, at least not one that had had coffee in it. Hopefully the classmate would understand. Hopefully she wasn’t the one who had gotten the wrong time. If they were going to be late, on purpose or even by accident, the least they could do was send her a text about it.

As she walked to class she caught a glimpse of a girl with red braids, just like the ones her friend Anna used to wear, walking a ways ahead of her. She shook her head slightly. It couldn’t be Anna. They didn’t even live in the same state. Besides, Anna had no reason to be there. No right to… no, that was bad thinking. Anna had the right to be at the school, even without good reason. What Anna didn’t have the right to do was put herself in danger by trying to be her friend. Of that, Elsa was certain.

When she got to her classroom, she was surprised to see the girl that had been walking ahead of her sitting a few rows in front of her. That’s odd. New students don’t join a college in the middle of a semester, that just doesn’t happen. She tried to ignore it. She hadn’t talked to Anna all semester, and it wasn’t like that girl was actually Anna. It was probably just someone who had always been in the class and decided to try a different hair color. Anyway, who was she to think about it. It wasn’t any of her business. Not really.

More than once during class she found her gaze wandering to that girl. She gritted her teeth. It couldn’t be Anna. She shook her head slightly. She needed to focus on the lesson or else she’d end up more lost than ever, plus if she kept staring at the girl she was bound to notice eventually. Class seemed to take frustratingly long today. When it was finally over, Elsa packed up her stuff and started to leave.

As she was walking out the door, she bumped into someone. She almost instinctively told them to watch where she was going but stopped when they spoke.

“Elsa?” There was no mistaking it. That was Anna.

Elsa bit her lip slightly and nodded. “Yes?”

“Would… would you like to get some coffee?” Anna asked. “And maybe catch up a little?”

Elsa nodded and stepped out of the classroom. It was just coffee. That couldn’t possibly hurt and it would be interesting to find out what Anna was doing here. “Sure. I’ll… I’ll show you to this nice little coffee shop nearby. They have great donuts, you still like donuts, right?”

“I like donuts, yes,” Anna said.

Elsa frowned slightly, though Anna wasn’t looking as far as she knew. Anna sounded different, and not a good different either. She used to get really excited when donuts were mentioned, but she didn’t sound happy anymore. Elsa closed her eyes for a moment.  _ Did I do this? _

She led Anna down the hall from the classroom and out one of the exits, holding the door open for her. As they went, she noticed that Anna  _ looked _ different too. She wasn’t smiling. Anna  _ always _ smiled.

Elsa sighed faintly. Them not being friends anymore was for the best. She had to keep believing that. Being friends with Anna would only end in one or both of them getting hurt. She couldn’t let that happen. It wouldn’t be fair to Anna to let her get hurt. It wasn’t fair to anyone to get hurt just by being her friend. It’s why she didn’t have any friends anymore. She didn’t want them, they’d just get hurt.

Still, she led Anna to the coffee shop. She could have come up with some kind of excuse, claimed she had another class to go to or something. But truth be told, she didn’t have anything to do for the rest of the day except homework. After having been flaked out on this earlier by her classmate, she could use another coffee and maybe a donut. It couldn’t hurt all  _ that _ much if she did have coffee with Anna. Right?

The shop was fairly empty. It usually was this time of day, part of its charm, and part of why Elsa liked being there at that point. She walked to the counter with Anna and placed her order, observing as Anna did so as well. She ordered mocha and a chocolate donut. That was something, at least. She still liked chocolate. It would have been a terrible sign if she hadn’t ordered at least one thing with chocolate in it. After they got their orders they headed to a table.

For a bit, they sat in silence. Neither really knew what to talk about.

Then Anna finally spoke. “How have you been? It’s been nearly six months.”

“Has it?” Elsa mused slightly. “I hadn’t noticed.” A lie. She knew exactly how long it had been.

“Yes,” Anna said, completely unamused. “It has.”

“I’ve been… busy,” Elsa said. “Architecture isn’t exactly the most… simple major.”

“Too busy to talk to me?” Anna asked.

Elsa sighed. She knew this would come up. She dreaded it actually. “Not… not exactly, no. Look Anna, you need to trust me on this. It’s better that we’re not friends.”

“Why?” Anna asked. “Why? Why couldn’t you just  _ tell _ me what went wrong? What did I do?”

“It’s not you,” Elsa argued quickly. “It was never you. It’s me. It’s all me. You’re better off without me.”

“We have been friends since elementary school, Elsa. Thirteen years and you only just start pulling that kind of bullshit logic. I refuse to accept it. What did I do wrong?”

“Nothing,” Elsa snapped and when Anna flinched slightly, she gritted her teeth and looked down at the table. “I’ve… developed anger issues. The seeds of them were always there, they’ve just been getting worse as time goes on. Not better. You deserve better than that. I don’t want you to get hurt. You’re better without me.”

“Wow,” Anna said, half sounding like she was trying to make a joke. “It honestly sounds like you don’t think I’d call you out if you were being a jerk. Or maybe it’s that you’re afraid I will.”

Elsa winced slightly but didn’t reply. She had a feeling Anna wasn’t done talking yet.

“Elsa, what you did—cutting me out of your life without warning, without explanation—that hurt. A lot. I’ve spent the last six months trying to figure out what I did wrong, what I could have done better or different. Maybe if you had just told me… maybe it would be different. I might be happier, or… I don’t know. I’ll never know, will I? Because you don’t want to be my friend because of some misguided attempt at ‘protecting’ me.” Anna sighed and took a drink of her mocha.

Elsa waited a moment before she replied, she wasn’t sure if Anna had finished or not. “Anna, I… I do want to be your friend. But I can’t let you get hurt because of me. Please, try to understand. The last thing I want is to hurt you. Should I have explained this better then? Yes. But I didn’t think I could without you getting upset and then me getting angry. I know our last words were… less than happy, and I’m incredibly sorry that I never apologized for the things I did then. But it’s in the past. I can’t change it now.”

“You can make up for it though,” Anna said. “Ignore your anxiety about this and just consider that no matter what, you’ve already hurt me. You can’t change that, but you can apologize for it. You can try to do better. You can be my friend and I won’t let you hurt me again. I promise. Try to trust me, Elsa. I miss you.”

Elsa sighed and nodded slightly as she took a drink of her coffee. It burned as it went down her throat. Perhaps Anna was right. Maybe they could be friends again. They’d been friends for years and sure, she was never the best at communication, but it had always worked out in the end. It could turn out okay, that was always possible. Highly unlikely, but possible. “Please tell me you didn’t come all this way just to try and confront me about why I stopped talking to you.”

“No,” Anna said. “I came all this way to sit in on a couple of the art classes to determine which ones I need to sign up for during the summer. My college… doesn’t offer art classes except for art history. But I need to take some to be a video game designer.”

“And you don’t have classes tomorrow? Or today?” Elsa asked.

“Currently, all my classes are online,” Anna replied. “I wanted to be able to travel a bit this semester and do things at my own pace.” She took a bite of her donut then smiled slightly. “Oh my god, this really is a great donut.”

Elsa smiled involuntarily. So Anna did still know how to be happy. It was good that she hadn’t caused her to fall into an impossible to recover from depression, nothing good could come of that. Maybe, maybe they should be friends again. No one else could ever come close to how happy Anna made her feel, and she rather missed it.

Anna smiled. “So you  _ do _ know how to smile.”

Elsa blushed and put on a fake frown. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You can smile,” Anna said. “And it’s actually kind of cute.”

Elsa blushed again. “Do you have to do that?”

“What? Compliment you? Yes, because that’s what friends are for,” Anna said.

“Do you have anything to do after this?” Elsa asked.

“No, why? Do you have anything to do?” Anna replied.

“No.” She bit her lip and then took another drink of her coffee. She wasn’t sure what she expected after that. Neither of them having anything to do wasn’t the answer she’d been expecting to happen. She thought Anna would be sitting in on a couple more classes after this, now she wasn’t sure how to continue the conversation.

“Well, if neither of us have anything to do… maybe we could do nothing together?” Anna suggested. “Or something, maybe watch a movie? What do you think?”

“I think I have the new Independence Day movie, if that’s your kind of thing,” Elsa said.

“Fuck yeah, I love watching people fight aliens!” Anna exclaimed.

“Chill a little, we’re still in public, Anna,” Elsa said, trying her best not to sound angry. She was, after all, happy that Anna was happy.

“Oh, right, sorry,” Anna said sheepishly. “Does that mean we can watch it?”

“I think that could be arranged, yes,” Elsa replied.

“So like… where do you live? Is it a dorm? An apartment? I’m curious,” Anna said.

“I could show you,” Elsa said. “It’s an apartment. Alone.”

“You live alone?” Anna asked.

“I do,” Elsa replied. “I don’t really like having other people sharing that small of a space with me constantly, and having roommates in a bigger apartment would be both more expensive and would mean there’d be people.”

“People,” Anna said quietly. “I can understand not wanting to be around people, but doesn’t it ever get lonely?”

Elsa paused and thought about this for a moment. She wasn’t actually sure. She couldn’t remember what lonely felt like, or rather maybe what it felt like not to be lonely. “I suppose. But it doesn’t really matter. Finish up your donut and coffee, and we’ll head over there to watch the movie. Maybe we could even watch two movies. I do have other movies as well.”

“Ooh, do you have any other movies where they shoot aliens?” Anna asked.

“I have Aliens, and Predator, and Alien vs Predator,” Elsa said. “I got them in at a yard-sale. Most of the rest of my movies don’t involve aliens at all.”

“Those are some good ones for starters at least,” Anna said chipperly.

Elsa shrugged. She much preferred video games to movies, but it wouldn’t be much fun to just let Anna watch her game and she didn’t have any two player games at the moment.

“I’m ready whenever you are,” Anna said as she finished up her coffee. The donut was already gone.

Elsa nodded slightly and stood up finishing off her cup too. As they walked out they returned their mugs to the little area designated for them.

She held the door open for Anna as they left, leading her away from the college and toward her apartment.

“I told you I’m an Architecture major right?” Elsa said and when Anna nodded continued, “I’m working on something special at my apartment so it’s best you check the couch when you sit down to make sure I didn’t leave anything on it.”

“How big is your apartment?” Anna asked.

“Studio,” Elsa said. “So fairly small. One room and the only room that has a door is the bathroom. So the living area, dining slash kitchen area and bed are all visible to each other. It’s not bad though, I kind of like it. It’s better than sharing and better than nothing at all.”

Anna nodded slightly. “And how far away is it?”

“Not too far, we don’t need to like take a bus or anything. In fact,” Elsa replied as they stopped to wait on the cross light at an intersection. “You can see it from here.” She pointed up at one of the taller buildings a little way in the distance. “It’s only a couple blocks away.”

“This is nice,” Anna said quietly. “Better than my dorm at least. My roommate doesn’t know the meaning of privacy and won’t stop talking.”

“Roommates can be terrible. Mine… mine hated me for a long time,” Elsa said as they crossed the street and kept walking.

It wasn’t long before they got to Elsa’s apartment building and were heading up the elevator to the floor she lived on.

Elsa showed Anna to her apartment which was number 544. “Sometimes the neighbor’s cat gets in, I hope you aren’t allergic to cats.”

“I’m not, I prefer dogs, but cats can be cool too,” Anna replied as Elsa opened the door and let her in. “How does the cat get in?”

“Through the window. He walks along the flower boxes and comes in when I leave it open. He goes into many apartments, no one seems to mind. There’s a few who are allergic, they installed window screens.

“What does the cat do once it’s inside?” Anna asked.

“Mostly chases down any mice that might be in the building,” Elsa said. “Here, let me get the movie set up. When it’s over I can make us a real meal, if you don’t mind tuna salad or like macaroni and cheese or ramen.”

“What if you put the tuna  _ in _ the macaroni?” Anna asked as she cleared toothpicks off the couch.

“I like the way you think Anna,” Elsa said with a small smile.

She paused slightly, then returned to setting up her laptop with the tv so they could watch the movie. Once that was done she quickly returned to Anna on the couch and sat down next to her.

About half an hour in, Anna snuggled up to Elsa’s side letting Elsa drape an arm over her shoulder. They didn’t talk during the movie, but from the smiles on their faces it was clear they were both enjoying it. At the end, Elsa smiled for a second then said quietly, “I’m sorry that I hurt you without meaning to. It was wrong. I should have considered your feelings.”

“It’ll be okay,” Anna said. “If you promise not to do it again,  _ and _ let me help you make the mac and cheese, with tuna. Oh, what do you have to drink?”

“Is Dr. Pepper okay?” Elsa chuckled.

“It’s perfect,” Anna replied as she hopped up off the couch, pulling Elsa up with her. “Now let's make dinner.”

“Did you even eat lunch?” Elsa asked.

“I had a sandwich,” Anna replied. “Well, a sub. I went to subway. Did  _ you _ even eat lunch?”

Elsa sighed slightly then chuckled.

Anna stared at her with raised brows trying to figure out what exactly that meant.

“I had… coffee. I spent my lunch time waiting for someone to show up so we could study. They never did,” Elsa said. “Dinner is a great idea.”

Anna smiled a little. “If I was that person, I wouldn’t have stood you up like that.”

“It’s okay… they probably just forgot… or maybe thought I meant some other coffee shop,” Elsa said.

Anna took Elsa’s hand excitedly. “See, you’re doing good at this whole trying not to be super angry thing. Don’t worry. Let’s make that mac and cheese! I love mac and cheese!”

Elsa chuckled, happy that Anna was happy, even if Anna was just trying to make her smile.


	2. Six Months Later

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to and-behold who commissioned this fic, there's an update :3 it's happy and fluffy for the most part. Enjoy.

Elsa smiled slightly while she watched Anna dancing to her music in the kitchen as she sat at the table in between the kitchen and living area. They’d only been living together for a couple weeks, since the start of the new academic year. Anna’s parents had actually been happy that they were talking again, but her own parents hadn’t really cared one way or the other. She wasn’t even sure they had ever known that they’d stopped talking for a while. She wondered if Anna’s parents would be so happy if they realized it wasn’t just because she wanted to protect Anna like a good older sister figure would. Well, when she first agreed to it that was why, but now it was something more.

Her face hurt slightly from smiling so much, but she couldn’t help it; Anna was absolutely adorable. It really didn’t help that at the moment Anna was dancing around singing “Bohemian Rhapsody” to the pancakes she was making.

_ I’m so lucky. When did she get so beautiful? _ Elsa blushed slightly. Of course, Anna had always been beautiful and she was just too stubborn or stupid to see it before.  _ Anna deserves better. _

She took a breath and tried to force herself to focus on Anna, on the happy feelings. On how it might feel to hear Anna say ‘I love you’ or have Anna’s lips against her own.  _ You don’t deserve her love. _ She closed her eyes for a second then, when she opened them again, looked at Anna. She chuckled as Anna spun around while singing the ‘Galileo Galilee’ part of the song and bowed slightly then winked at her.

_ Shit. What’s that mean? A wink? I… What? _ She smiled despite her confusion. Anna was happy right now. That was the most important thing. More important even than the fact that Anna was wearing her shirt.  _ My shirt! _ She bit her lip and willed herself not to say anything.  _ You yell too much. Anna deserves better. _

_ Relax, Elsa. You’re one of the luckiest women on the planet right now. Nothing will go wrong. _ She took a steadying breath that turned into a loving sigh when Anna put the pancake on the plate in front of her. It looked just like her.  _ It’s me! How adorable! I don’t deserve her. _

“It might just be the most beautiful pancake I’ve ever made,” Anna said with a beautiful smile. “You said you want yours to look like the love interest in my video game project concept, right? Or should I go bigger and make it look like the final project you made in spring that’s still sitting on the table by the door?”

For a second Elsa couldn’t think of a reply, then she said, “Why not shape it like you? An edible self-portrait?”

“For you?” Anna asked with a laugh. “Do you want to eat me that badly?” She winked.

Elsa blushed hotly.  _ Shit. I walked into that one. _ “I only meant… you made one of me, why not make one of you? That really would be the most beautiful pancake ever.”

Anna laughed again and turned back to the stove. “We’ll see.”

_ I do not deserve her, at all. But man, I wouldn’t have this any other way. I really am the luckiest woman on the planet.  _ She smiled contentedly as Anna went back to dancing, this time to “Karma Chameleon”.


End file.
